I recently received an email from someone saying she’s finding it difficult to live in gratitude in a challenging world. She’s stressed out and depressed by the news and the state of our country, and she wanted to know how I’m able to switch gears from being exposed to all the bad news and then going back to my place of gratitude.

I am not a news junkie and my advice to those who are is to either find a way to shut it down through meditation or a walk outside as soon as you get your daily dose of news before it impacts you, or if you find it difficult to do that, to stop making news part of your regular routine. You are the co-creator of your world. If you focus on the negatives, then you’ll pull in negatives. If you’re stressed out and worried, how effective can you be in living a life of gratitude?

It’s not that I’m not interested in what’s going on, but I can be a hand-wringer and knowing this, I can only take on my world – my little circle of people I encounter in work, community and family. I’m in a very happy place most of the time, and when I falter, I’m much better about recognizing it and making a correction to stay the course on the path of gratitude. If I were to read the news each day, it would put me in a bad place.

I pray for the world each day. I pray for our country. I pray for Mother Nature. I am committed to spreading the word about gratitude, teaching people to connect with their Angels and Spirit Guides, and teaching other spiritual courses. I’m devoted to putting light into the world. I believe if enough of us live our lives in this way it will change the world for the good. I pay no attention to the news, most of which is not trustworthy anyway, because it prevents me from doing the work I was meant to do.

I’m sharing my thoughts about this in my blog for those who may have the same struggle.

Daily Gratitude Week of July 24

7-24

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us.”

– Marianne Williamson (also attributed to Nelson Mandela)

Some of my life I didn’t feel powerful, instead I felt powerless and dependent upon outside forces.
Later I shrank from my own power, and was timid and played small.
Today I am grateful to own and feel the power of my being!
There is nothing I can’t accomplish with determination, creativity and courage.
I know I am powerful beyond measure, with the help of my higher power,
and I am so thankful this is so.

7-25

“As the Sun shines upon my heart, so may my heart shine upon others!”

– The Upanishads

Let me remember that a shining, bright, loving heart is precious.
Let me take a break from the hustle and bustle
and shine my love light on as many as I can,
starting with my family who I sometimes take for granted,
and extending out to all I meet each day.
I am incredibly grateful to have such a loving, tender heart
and I choose to share it!

7-26

“We have no idea what tomorrow will bring, but today is overflowing with potential.”

– Allan Lokos

I am so grateful to be able to stay in the present moment — it’s not always easy, but so comforting and soothing when I do, rather than planning or plotting the future, which in reality, we cannot change anyway.

Ram Dass really had something when he coined the sixties’ term “Be Here Now” which is practically a cliche but so darn wise.

I seize the moment, rich with a multitude of possibilities, and open to the zest of life!

7-27

As long as the candle burns, there is time to make repairs.

–

Rabbi Salanter

Life offers endless possibilities and among those, there is the opportunity to do things differently.

When I make a mistake or err, I can always make amends to myself or someone else.

Life is a cornucopia of second chances and choices.

I am grateful for growing wiser as I age, and so grateful that my candle keeps on burning!

7-28

“How many times have I died only to be born again out of the ashes of my unbelief?

How many times has my precious God loved me through the tempests of my own doubt, fear and feelings of unworthiness?”

– Rev. Karen S. Wylie

I am so grateful for all the resurrections of my life!

With each fall from grace and subsequent ascension, I truly grow stronger.

All I have to do is listen to the still, small voice within that assures me that I am worthy beyond measure

and if it doesn’t matter in the Big Picture, there is no need to worry!

I am thankful for divine wisdom, and the remembrance of who I truly am when my mind niggles and falters.

Until recent years I was a people-pleaser. It was important for me to be liked by others, and if their acceptance meant my having to jump through hoops, well that was what I was willing to do. As I came to love myself more and more, I stopped this destructive habit in my personal life, but still found it painful to have difficult conversations in professional relationships. I just found it very hard to accept that I wasn’t pleasing everyone I was trying do a good job for. The more displeased they were, the harder I tried. I see a correlation between this dynamic and that of a child trying to win the love, acceptance, and affection of a parent. It was only recently that I realized when it comes to loving myself enough to be my own advocate, it has to cross over into all areas of my life.

I feel so blessed, because when I struggle with something, God doesn’t say, ‘Forget it, you’ll never learn this lesson!’ Instead, I am tested again and again until I’ve mastered it. Now I know some would think a loving God would spare us the pain, but I believe we are here to grow and learn. This life is school, and death is our graduation. And God is good to allow me to take the same test over and over until I don’t even consider it a test anymore.

I had a chance to be retested recently when a client was unhappy with each attempt of mine to create something wonderful for her. I tried and tried and became frustrated by continued rejection, and then I came to a point where I realized this partnership just might not be a good fit for us. That happens, and it’s perfectly fine, so why was I personalizing it? As soon as I found this way to detach, I calmly explained I would not continue on with the project, she would only have to pay me for the work I had done so far, and I wished her well in finding the right person to bring her vision to life. I was surprised, and happy, when she told me I was the one she wanted to work with. So of course, at that point I felt I had to set some parameters for continuing on, which I did, and she accepted.

It felt liberating to find a way to nicely say, “Enough” to someone. I learned two important things. I realized that part of the reason situations like this made me so upset was because I was upset with myself – frustrated at not being skillful in handling things like this, with my inability to do so leading to my being upset with ME! The second thing I learned was that it’s really just a matter of finding the right words to say and the right way to say it, so I’m advocating for myself in an unemotional and fair manner, leaving the other person’s dignity intact. And this was easy once I asked myself how I would want to be told.

Thank God we never stop growing and learning. As I’ve stated and written many times, I am a work in progress. Neither God, nor I, are finished with me yet!

I have honed it through the years so that I am no longer co-dependent,

yet I still watch over my loved ones, and it does take experience, patience and wisdom to love deeply.

It is perhaps most difficult for me to love myself.

On the surface I do, but sometimes feeling compassion for myself comes harder.

I am thankful to have learned to love myself and others in a healthy way, in an unconditional way, in a giving no-strings-attached way.

And I know loving and being open to be loved is our most important work, and stretches over lifetimes.

July 6

“A few fly bites cannot stop a spirited horse.”

– Mark Twain

I am in gratitude for my tenacity. If things go awry, I keep on keeping on until I get a better outcome.

So much to be said for not giving up!

Truly thankful for the determination and persistence I show, time and time again.

And I enjoy that quality in others, as well.

July 7

“All is Infinite Being and all is eternally becoming.”

– Ernest Holmes

To really understand that everywhere, everything, and everyone is part of the All-in-All is so amazing and so comforting. We, as little specks in the infinitely expanding universe are not alone, we are not separate, we are intricately linked by our very being. We belong.

I am so grateful to feel the truth of what I am saying deep within me, without doubt.

Here are this week’s offering of thoughts of thanksgiving, by Deborah Perdue, author of Daily Gratitude Reflections and Grace of Gratitude Journal.

To sign up to receive daily inspiring thoughts of gratitude in your email box, you can go to www.graceofgratitude.com home page and click to receive them.

Enjoy! Get inspired! Email me at info@graceogratitude.com and let me know of any you particularly like, or send your own in. I would love to hear from you.

June 19

“It began in mystery and it will end in mystery, but what a rare and beautiful country lies in between.”

– Diane Ackerman

Life is a divine mystery! We don’t really know what lies beyond this life,

and there is a realm we can’t see which is intangible but oh-so-real!

The most important aspects of the unseen are love, peace, joy, and wisdom.

And the most vital of the seen are, perhaps, the profuse outpouring of life everywhere, colors, music, art and beauty.

What a fantastic life this is…….

I am so very grateful.

June 20

I am so grateful for the surprises of Spirit which appear each and every day if I am noticing.
So often there are gifts bestowed upon me from the universe that are freely given, and fill my heart with joy and awe.
The majesty and beauty of Mother Earth is so incredibly rich this time of year.
Happy Summer Solstice!

June 21

“Everything can be taken…but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”

– Viktor Frankl

Once I finally got out of the victim mode in my life, I realized I was always at choice!
How amazing to be set free like that!
Knowing that nobody can hurt my feelings, only I can let myself be hurt.
Knowing that I can choose to live my life exactly as I want, and
I am free to co-create what happens in my future.

I am incredibly grateful for this ultimate freedom that we innately possess!

And I am thankful for inspiring people, like Viktor Frankl, Nelson Mandela, and the Dalai Lama, who show us the way.

June 22

“The grace of a river is a reminder of how nature seeks elegance and achieves immense beauty of cohesion and balance…
if only our lives could achieve, or indeed allow, such grace and elegance.”

– John O’Donohue

I am grateful for the steady flow of meandering nearby rivers!
I have a passionate love affair with rivers, and it is pure joy to swim in them on hot summer days.

Yet I am even more thankful for the flow in my life.

If I relax and let myself float along, trusting I am being guided, instead of pushing or struggling, all is grace and ease.

How happy I am when I can let go!

June 23

Today I am simply thankful this workweek is over — it was hectic and somewhat stressful.
I am grateful for the beauty and stillness where I live; for my hubby and darling dogs,
and for my free form Saturdays where I can do exactly what I want with no “shoulds” or “musts.”

I appreciate having a flourishing business with lots of money coming in,
and I am also glad to take my little nose off the grindstone this weekend and reeeeelllllaaaax!